Growing up in Virginia, I often heard stories about verbal jousting between Sir Winston Churchill and Lady Astor, who was also born in Virginia. One of the most memorable is the following: Lady Astor: “If you were my husband, I’d give you poison.”Sir Winston: “If you were my wife, I’d drink it.” Amusing, but not…
The Zeigarnik effect describes the fact that people tend to remember unfinished tasks better than completed ones. It happens because “unfinished tasks create a cognitive burden, weigh more heavily on the mind, and are more easily recalled than completed tasks.” The effect was first described in the 1920s by Soviet psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik after observing…
Having more oxytocin receptors in the brain might be the key difference between mean people and nice ones. In a study published in Biology Letters, researchers analyzed seven different closely related lemur species, noting which ones were egalitarian, which ones were male dominant, and which ones were female dominant. While the animal kingdom has many…
What happens if we relook at predictions from 100 years ago? Futurists usually aren’t judged on the accuracy of their predictions, and people rarely revisit the predictions many years later. Futurists can be wrong and unaccountable; just like meteorologists… The exception might be Ray Kurzweil who some have claimed to have a stunning 86% accuracy…
At the recommendation of a friend, I watched the Hindi-language film Shakuntala Devi about a woman who could make complex mathematical calculations in her head very quickly. Born in 1929 in India, Devi grew up to a poor family who couldn’t afford to formally educate her but, by the age of 5 years old, she became…
This weekend I heard a podcast mention the concept of ‘kangaroo words’ so decided to have some fun dreaming up derivatives of kangaroo words. Kangaroo words contain letters of another word with the same or similar meaning, in the correct order but not necessarily consecutively. For example, the word chicken has the word hen in…
Despite a constant barrage of negativity, there is uplifting news out there; you just have to look harder to find it. For example, Fast Company annually publishes a list of World Changing Ideas that create “substantive, positive change in the world”. The winning ideas improve lives, society, or the environment — not just businesses bottom lines. This…
During my technology career, the phrase ‘the Russians used a pencil’ was a vivid reminder that the simplest solution is often the best one. For those who may not have heard the story about the Russian pencil, it goes something like this: When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered ballpoint pens did…
Have you ever noticed the word nonplussed has two opposite meanings? The original definitions of nonplussed is perplexed or disconcerted. Recently, and primarily in the U.S., nonplussed has come to mean unfazed or not surprised – the exact opposite of the original definition. The opposite definitions are certainly confusing but surprisingly it’s not that rare…
Despite the popularity of the saying, Sherlock Holmes never actually said “elementary, my dear Watson.” Regardless, we recognize the phrase refers to something which is easily understood – perhaps obvious – even if it seems confusing to others. Referring to the books, Watson is surprised and impressed when Holmes is able to figure out things from…